Archive for March, 2010

I’m a strong believer that everything new is long forgotten old. And being a huge fan of history, I find the past the best source of inspiration. So with that in mind, i decided to start the new category on my blog, called “the old new” where I would post any “now-then” projects that cross my path.

The first one is Mary MacDonald vs. Paul Poiret.

The NEW: Living room of Jennifer and Bert Salke’s house in Beverly Hills. Designed by Mary MacDonald. Mural by Jefferson Miles.

The OLD: 1924. Bedroom by Paul Poiret, a famous French fashion designer, whose passion occasionally has spread into the interior design world.

To honor the birthday of the world famous composer and violin genius Antonio Vivaldi, born in Venice in 1678. He was nicknamed the Red Priest on account of his red hair and ordination in 1703. The Four Seasons, a popular series of four violin concerti, is his best-known work and is representative of the baroque period in European art music.

I picked up this blooming cherry branch at the local grocery store for $4 and couldn’t be happier this morning when enjoying it every time I pass by the dining. The scientists lately figured out (!) that happiness in life consists of little moments of being happy. This is definitely one of those.

Searching for the inspiration for a new project I came across Morimoto Restaurant in Piladelphia. although it’s not at all a new project (opened in 2002, the designs still very relevant and vibrant. The space was designed by Karim Rashid, an astonishing product and space designer, who claimed the whole space with his signature style.

Rashid’s 6 foot–tall serpentine sculpture of black fiberglass marks the transition from the vestibule to the dining room, where the low bamboo ceiling ascends in a wave to a height of 20 feet. Half-height frosted boxes of plate glass act as dividers. Concealed beneath them are LED strips that set the glass softly aglow—cycling between synthetic cyan, magenta, green, orange, and lavender at a pace so slow that the shift barely registers at a conscious level. 3-D lava-lamp shapes in the bas-relief plasterwork of the sidewalls instantly warms up the space.

What a great solution for the ever-irritating problem of long and narrow spaces.

The sequel to the original Morimoto in the City of Brotherly Love, is Morimoto, New York. This two-level 13,000-square-foot spectacle represents the first Big Apple foray for both restaurateur Stephen Starr and architect Tadao Ando. At one end of the blackened-steel facade, the 50-foot-wide arched entry is draped with a fish-roe red PVC curtain. Inside, a rippling canvas-and-fiberglass ceiling, a resin-topped bar, an LED-lit wall of 17,400 half-liter plastic water bottles, and beechwood furniture by Ross Lovegrove accompany Ando’s signature concrete.